Dream about it
by Dark Chaos X
Summary: "Long time no see, little brother!" "Technically speaking, my physical age is now older than yours. So I'm the –" "Dream about it." / Based off of the picture by Varia on tumblr. Semi-AU, minor Annabeth/Percy/Nico at the end if you squint.


**A/N:** Nico may or may not be OOC in this, but there's a good reason if you read on.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own PJO or HoO, Rick Riordan does. Also, Varia (from tumblr) owns the cover icon.

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_"You promised you would protect her," the boy said. The small figurine felt heavy in his hand, but he couldn't let it go. _

_ His words must have had some effect on Percy, as the teen flinched. "Nico, I tried. But Bianca gave herself up to save the rest of us. I told her not to. But she –"_

_ "You promised!" Nico interrupted, clenching the figurine of Hades. "I shouldn't have trusted you." His voice broke and he closed his eyes to repel the tears from coming out. "You lied to me. My nightmares were right!"_

_ "Wait. What nightmares?"_

_ Nico flung the figurine to the ground in rage. No one understood his dreams. The other demigods claimed to know, saying it sucked to have the gods and other creatures terrorize their dreams. But he knew that it wasn't the power of the gods, or any other creature he never saw. Even after he woke he still felt the feeling of his sister traveling to a place far below along with others. How could he think his … his crush understood?_

_ "I hate you!" He yelled, glaring at the son of Poseidon._

_ "She might be alive," Percy stated desperately. "I don't know for sure –"_

_ "She's dead."_

. . .

Nico woke with a start, clutching his sheets like a lifeline. There is no telling what time he jolted awake, as the only source of light was the green glow of Greek fire hanging off the walls.

The demigod rose a shaky hand to his hair, combing through it as if to calm himself. It was one of those dreams again.

The son of Hades climbed out of bed and, on wobbly legs, made himself presentable. Ever since the end of the Second Titan War, Nico has been plagued with a series of dreams that revolved around his sister Bianca. He squinted as he opened the black obsidian doors of the cabin. The sun's rays were always able to dispel the dark chimera of his mind.

Bored, the demigod sought out any source of interest and grinned as he shadow-traveled to the Arena. (All those trips to McDonald's and back weren't just for the happy meal. Where else would he practice shadow-traveling?) The sound of wooden swords hitting each other greeted Nico along with some sighs of disappointment.

"Alright, alright," a familiar voice called over the mock duels. "How 'bout I show you guys how to do it one more time?"

Nico held back a laugh as the son of Poseidon rounded up the newly claimed demigods with a wooden sword. The teen looked weird without Riptide in his hand, but he knew that Percy wanted to help train the large wave of new demigods before heading back to live with his mom and Paul for the school year.

"Now," Percy said as the group quieted down to a mild roar. "Who wants to be my practice dummy?"

The group mumbled excuses and looked at anything but the son of Poseidon. Percy, not at all dejected, searched for his victim – _volunteer_ – with a smile that only widened as his gaze met Nico's.

"How about you, Nico?" He called. "Ready to be my practice dummy?"

Nico caught the wooden sword that Percy tossed to him as he came up to the group. "Look who's talking. Annabeth did say your head's full of seaweed."

Percy laughed. "Alright, now blocking is pretty easy once you get a hang of it…"

The two gave examples on how to block multiple attacks and sorted the group into pairs. Nico gave a sharp laugh as he watched one pair and corrected them on their stances. His gaze swept the Arena for any signs of the young demigods needing help and smiled as it locked on a figure near the entrance. He jogged up to her as she welcomed him.

"Long time no see, little brother!" Bianca greeted. She rested her hand on the top of his head and seemed to be pleased of the length of his hair. (He was getting sick of her dragging him to the barber, so he decided to go by himself for once.) Her smile reminded him that, no, those dreams were not real and his sister was alive and well.

"Technically speaking, my physical age is now older than yours. So I'm the –"

"Dream about it."

. . .

Nico gave a quiet cry for his sister and screwed his eyes shut. He cursed the gods for sending him these dreams. Hadn't he suffered enough? There was no need to mock him with the dreams of his sister still alive as Bianca, not reborn as somebody he doesn't know.

He felt himself being brought into an embrace and tucked his head under the person's chin. He felt another person's warmth as two different hands comforted him: one rubbing his back and a smaller one combing through his hair. He gave a quiet sob, and the three laid like that as Nico fell into a dreamless sleep.

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**A/N:** I had to write this ever since I read HoH and saw Varia's picture of Bianca and Nico (cover image). Did anybody notice that it was a "dream" within a dream and that the first "dream" actually happened in the books? And yes, Nico is with Percy and Annabeth at the end. I love Percabeth far too much to break them up, and I figured that having Nico in the relationship only made it better. Feel free to review and tell me what you think or if there is any mistakes.


End file.
